DENVER (AP) — Rep. Cory Gardner is selling himself as "a new kind of Republican" as he tries to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Udall.

Gardner released a pair of ads this week highlighting his support for renewable energy and for women to get birth control pills without a prescription. He is responding to months of attacks from Udall and his allies for being too conservative on those issues for swing state Colorado.

No Republican has won a top-of-the-ticket race in Colorado for a decade. Gardner's efforts to distance himself from his party's image show why. Democrats say he's misleading voters. But Gardner's campaign says he's been caricatured by Democratic attacks.